Machine-gun belt and other like carrier.



V. H. JENNINGS.

MACHINE GUN BELT AND oIIIER LIKE CARRIERt APPLICATION FILED APR. I9, 1917.

1,257,241. Patented Reb.19,191s,

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

V. H. JENNINGS.

MACHINE GuN BELT AND oTRER LIKE CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I9 1917.

Pfllted Feb. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

In veg/far 12,@ E am fney "UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

VICTOR H. JiENNINGS, 0F WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB T0 UNIVERSAL PATENTS COMPANY, OF WOONSOCKET, BHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

Speoication of Letters Patent.

Applieation med April 19, 1917. Serial No. 163,218. i

To all 'whom z't may concern:

Be it known that I, VIoToE H. JENNINGS, a citizen of the United States, residin at Worcester, in the county of Worcester, tate of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and-useful Improvement in Machine- Gun Belts and other like Carriers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawhe invention is an improvement in ma-' chine-gun belts and other carriers of the same general character as those used as machine-gun belts. It consists in a belt or carrier having transverse loops to recelve and contain cartridges, etc., and having a continuously divided or split margin or selvage at one or both sides thereof. The general aim of the invention is to facilitate the operations by which a belt or carrier is loaded. The principle of the invention may be embodied variously in practice, and in belts or carriers of various constructions. The drawings show several different embodiments thereof.

In the case of a machine-gun belt or carrier the continuously divided or split margin or selvage serves especially for facilitating the entrance of the loop-opening needle of a loading machine, or the entrance of the cartridges themselves, or of both, into the successive' loops of a belt or carrier, and for insuring such entrance without failures or mal-functions in the loading operation, and without injury to the belt or carrier' by the point of the needle or the points of the bullets of 4the cartridges. It

also enables beaded margins or selvages to be dispensed with, when desired, in the case of woven belts or carriers.

Figure l of the drawings is a perspective view of a belt or carrier woven in one piece and having a slitted or divided margin or selvage at the side at which the bullets of the cartridges project, with cartridges occupying some of the loops of the said belt or carrier. l

Fig. 2 is an edge view of the woven belt or carrier of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a belt or carrier comprising two iexible strips 011'i webbings fastened together by means of c s.

igs. 4 and 5 are perspective views illustrating belts or carriers having slitted or divided margins 'or selvages at the side at which the cartridges enter the loops.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing a `belt or carrier having slitted or divided margins or selvages along both sides thereof.

The belt or carrier of Fig. l, Woven in one piece, comprises a woven web which is made in separate plies 1, l, at intervals to produce the loops which receive and contain the cartridges 2, 2. In the case of other carriers besides machine-gun belts, the loops will be adapted to receive such other articles as the belt or carrier is designed to have applied thereto. Between the loops the two plies are united or combined as at 3, 3. In carrying the invention into ei'ect in the manufacture of such belt or carrier, the said plies are not united or combined across the entire width of the web, but are woven disunited or separate for a short distance transversely of the web at the margin of the latter at which provision for the desired rcsults should be made. In this instance it is at the margin at which the bullets 2a, 2, of the cartridges project. Thereby the belt or carrier is produced with a margin 4, 4, which is continuously slitted or divided in thickness longitudinally; in other words, the belt or carrier is producedwith what may be termed alcontinuously divided or longitudinally slitted margini or selvage 4, 4. The two sides of this margin or selvage are adapted to be spread apart or separated readily, toadmit between themV the point of the needle of a machine for automatically loading the belt or carrier with cartridges or other articles. The said point, after entering between the said sides, will pass readily into the loop which has been presented in line with the needle. The separated sides act as guides to facilitate the entrance of the needle-point o end into such loop.

One contemplated purpose of the divided or longitudinally slitted margin or selvage is to furnish a channel to receive a plow or channel-opener in connection with the loading machine, arranged to occupy the channel in advance of where the loop-opening needle operates, so that as a belt or carrier is fed past the loading devices the said plow or channel-opener, by reason of occupying the channel, shall serve to spread apart the sides of the longitudinally slitted Patented Feb. 19, 1918.

. or divided margin or selva admission and guidance ofge proper wldth for the belt or carrier, placed face to face and bound together, at intervals .i determined by the size of the required loops (by means of pairs of metal cllps 6, 6, the two clips of a pair being placed a ainst op osite sides of the two strlps or web ings and being fastened together by means of hollow rivets or eyelets 7, 7. In Fig. 3 the said clips are of such length that they terminate at a suitable distance from the edges of the strips or webbing, at the margin which is required to be left split or divided, t9 leave the marginal portions 4", 4, of the two. strips or webbings unbound and ca able of being spread apart, as indicated 1n Fig. .3. The said marginal portions 4, 4, serve the same useful functions as those marked 4, 4, in Fi s. 1 and 2.

rdinarily in practice heretofore, at the side of a machine-gun belt or carrier at whichl the loop-opening needle of the loading machine enters the loops, the strip or strips constituting the body of the said belt or carrier has or have been woven with enlarged or beaded selvages, to facilitate the insertion of the point of the said needle between the two sides of a loop. These enlarged or beaded selvages add to the cost of the strip or strips. The invention enables them to beldispensed with, if desired, as in the case of the various belts or carriers shown in the drawings.

Figs. 4 and 5 show the edge of the belt or carrier. at which the cartridges are introduced. slitted or' divided longitudinally, producing the divided margin or selvage 4", 4b, or 4c, 4. When the belt or carrier is thus` slitted or divided alon the said edge,'the insertion of the cartri ges point first into the respective loops is facilitated in the same manner and respects as explained with referenceto the insertion of the loop-opening needle at the other edge. Fi 4 shows a woven one-piece yweb as in Figs. 1 and 2.

Fig. 5 shows a belt or carrier comprising two strips or webbings bound together by clips, 6, 6", and rivets 7l 7, substantially as in Fig. 3, but with the chps terminatiny at a distance from the top edge of the be t or carrier corresponding with the desired width part of the width of the belt or carrier toform a continuously divided or split margin or selvage. y

3. A machine-gun belt or the like carrier comprising a web formed, as woven, with transverse loops and having the sides of such loops joined `together, in the weaving, across a portion of the width of the carrier but left disunitcd for a second portion of the said width to form a continuously gin or selvage.

In testimon whereof I aix my signature in presence o two witnesses.

vieron H. JENNINGSL- Witnessesz' 4 EMMA M. BAiLEY, ELvA M. LORD.

belt or the like carrier' divided marmiVY 

